Friendly Etiquette

[Sam]

Talk about Springer....some of you REALLY need to worry about what you and yours are doing, and not everyone else..! You could form a sort of softball gestapo...."you will do it our way, or be black-balled forever more........!"

Econ 101 - If you can't make money running a fundraiser, you don't run a fundraiser. That means no more friendlies and no more tournaments. Get it? If everybody did what these yahoos did, they wouldn't have to worry about anything....their kids could go play soccer.

[upurbox]

If you guys want to continue to battle with each other do it in PMs, otherwise this thread will be closed.

SPAZSDAD.. RELAX AND HAVE ANOTHER JD...GIVE IT A DAY OR TWO...ITS NOT LIKE ITS THE "SOFTBALL SOLDIERS"...............OR IS IT

[Longdisttrvlballer]

I thought that I was being nice. I guess my picture of Cheech and Chong would have been over the top!!!

[daylightkate]

Wow, so it looks like a missed a few posts here but here's my two bits.

So I'm not from California and we don't have friendlies (wish we did) and, if we did have them and only had to play $50 a game then yes, we would ensure we patron the snack bar.

However, if we are at a tournament and are paying $400 and up, then that's a different story. Most of the families will end up getting something from the snack bar and tourney t-shirts. But we would have brought a team meal. Would we park ourselves with a BBQ 50 feet away from the snack bar? NO.

For us, most tournaments mean travel and we would be required to stay in hotels. This ends up costing a family $300 - $500 a weekend let alone the cost to the team for the tourney. We include in our budget a food cost where two families are required to prepare a meal for the whole team and family members specifically during a tourney. To many times you are waiting in line ups and the kids end up not getting something to eat before they have to play again. Or, the snack bar runs out of food. I would be sickened if we where blackballed because of that!

[dustyshoes]

I thought that I was being nice. I guess my picture of Cheech and Chong would have been over the top!!!

Nah, weed is pretty much as close to legal without officially being legal as possible in Ca. It was the trademark infringement and double-parking that was way out of line. I thought I hallucinated those posts myself until Spazdad posted.

[dustyshoes]

I also live in a part of the country where they don't do friendlies. I'm sure if someone in my area tried to, which someone probably has, they wouldn't be able to get fields and blues. Are both in in abundance in Ca? If not how do you get them?

If we could overcome those obstacles I'm sure we would all frequent the snack bar, or at least be discrete about it if we didn't.

[NumeroUno]

I am a professional snack bar guy well, maybe I shouldn't go that far but I have been involved with a few of them. We have hosted tourneys and we get nothing from the entrance fee, all we get is the snack bar. It all depends on how it is set up. When we host friendlies we don't make any extra money from the umps, if they get $40 a game you pay $40 a game, we make money on the food only.
At the state tourneys we don't get anything from the entry fees, we get a small percentage from the venders, a small percentage from the shirts sold and all the food. We buy the food out of our(parents) pocket. The team account usually spends a few hundred depending on what we need.
Every friendly we hosted last year I spent around $50-$100 state tourney a little more. Sounds like a lot until Nationals, My kids plane flight paid for, my plane flight paid for and my hotel was paid for.
The interest rate I got on my investment was like 300% Fannie Mae would have been proud

[#22MOM]

I understand teams have the snack shack as fundraisers and I totally support the snack shack. But not every family/team is from the upper class cities or make alot of money. With the ecomomy being the way it is and people losing jobs it's not easy for some people to keep kids in tb let alone support snack shacks every weekend. It was a bad call for the team to have a bbq 50 feet in front of the snack shack but does the team bbq at every tournament/friendly? I have been to alot of tournys and seen teams bbqing or tailgating. I've even seen a team with a taquaria, does that mean they are all going to get there pics taken or black balled? We don't know every teams or parents financial situation to judge them. Maybe they can't afford to buy food from there every weekend or they want healthier things for there dd's in between games (personally I do). I'm just the type of person that doesn't judge. JMO.

[NumeroUno]

I have a good idea don't invite any poor people to your friendlies..

I'm just kidding, times are tough and you are right #22mom, but right next to the snack bar isn't the best idea. I personally always try to support snack bars even if I just buy water and a couple Gatorade for the kids. It is a lot of work.

[#22MOM]

Lol, it is bad judgment doing it so close to the snack shack but it could be a learning experience. I know it's hard work doing snack shacks. Even if I take food I still end up buying from the snack shack.